Mounds Park Academy, located in St. Paul, Minnesota, will host a two-day conference on “Learning With Laptops: Make It Happen,” on April 5-6.
The event will focus on wireless laptop computing, featuring — ta daa! — Apple iBooks. MPA has created a campus-wide wireless environment and has issued laptop computers to 50 staff members and 240 students, making it the first school in Minnesota with a grades 9-12 wireless laptop program. (See our Nov. 24 story for details.)
Conference attendees will be issued iBooks to use so they can experience first-hand the look and feel of this program (although if you have a wireless laptop, you’re welcome to bring it along, too.) MPA has prepared two tracks of study for the conference. One is for teachers, technology coordinators, and administrators. The second is for technology support staff.
Planned sessions for conference include: philosophy and rationale of laptop education, design and installation of a wireless LAN, preparation of your faculty, integrating technology into your curriculum, meeting department-level needs, use of the Web and e-mail for communication, developing program expectations, classroom observation and demonstration, designing a support plan, and providing network services.
More info is available at the conference Web site. There’s online registration; the fee for “Learning With Laptops” is US$300.